El Paso, a city without affiliated minor league baseball since 2004, is said to be a major player in an attempt to buy the Triple-A baseball team from Tucson.

The Tucson club, which is the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres and a member of the Pacific Coast League, is a good bet to be sold some time in the next six weeks. An original deal in Escondido, Calif., has fallen through and a group of El Pasoans is said to be in the mix trying to buy the team. The group would build a privately funded stadium in the Downtown area, most probably around Union Depot.

Teams at the Triple-A level are usually one step away from the major leagues.

Sources say that if the local group is able to buy the Tucson team they would continue playing in Tucson until the new stadium is built in El Paso - which would probably not bring the team here until the summer of 2015. Those sources say the group would not consider using Cohen Stadium as an interim site.

"The major problem right now is the perception of El Paso as a dangerous city because of all the violence in Mexico," former El Paso Diablo owner Jim Paul said. "For any sale to go through, it has to have unanimous consent from all the owners in the Pacific Coast League. It's all about perception. What the El Paso group will have to do is go in front of the owners and tell them our city was the safest city in the U.S.

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three years ago, the third safest last year and the safest city again this year. How many of you can say that about your city?"

Paul was the owner of the Diablos until he sold the club in 1997 to Bill Pereira from Idaho. The team remained here until 2004. In 2003, minority owner Bobby Brett took over operations of the team, and after the 2004 season, the team (which was a Double-A Texas League team affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks) was sold to Springfield, Mo., for $9.8 million.

Tucson has had trouble keeping a team over the years. The Tucson Toros were active from 1969 to 1997, but were then sold to Fresno. The Tucson Sidewinders operated there from 1998 to 2008, when they moved to Reno, Nev. And now the current team is almost certain to sell.

Paul rejuvenated minor league baseball in El Paso and around the nation with his innovative marketing ideas beginning in the early 1970s. He kept a successful franchise, first at Dudley Field and then at Cohen Stadium beginning in 1990. The team was affiliated with the California Angels, then the Milwaukee Brewers and finally with the Diamondbacks.

The El Paso Diablos, a member of independent baseball, has played at Cohen Stadium since the Double-A franchise was sold to Springfield after that 2004 season.

There are several other groups also interested in buying the Tucson team. Paul said one is Pereira, who would like to move the club to Boise, Idaho.

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